Archive for July, 2013

Wow, this was a crazy whirlwind! Haha, for me anyway. It was nuts! As far as the quiet world of painting goes that is… This painting took just two hours. Bam. Fusca had somewhere to be, and I had no idea if I could do it in that time, but here we are…!

Who cropped this photo? An idiot?

AND this is the third appearance of Fusca! At this point making him the most frequent subject of Lunch and a Portrait. Fusca’s been kind enough to sit for me for all three of the L&P incarnations.

But let’s talk speed for a sec… It’s a crazy coincidence that we only had a couple hours for this sitting because I’ve been taking a little longer than usual for the last few portraits. Working quickly led to some interesting use of colour and colour mixing… there was a lot of what you might call recycling that doesn’t normally happen. With nearly every subsequent colour that I mixed, I was using one of the previous colours as a tint or a ground for it. Which I do to some extent, but I’ve never done it so consistently throughout one painting. Does this mean the colour scheme in this painting is more harmonious? Does it have something the others don’t? HA! I can’t decide! Can you?! BAM! That’s real life, baby.

Anyhow, it’s a positive coincidence that this happened now. I think this will solidify a few of my new abilities and techniques. Working quickly is something I always aspire towards, but it’s always easy to get carried away. Tighten up, bro! Reign it in, buddy! Whew. Time for a beer…

First of all, with all joking aside, I want to say for the record that anytime someone sits for me, they end up telling me some kind of an awesome story. Seriously. Everyone has got something really friggin cool to say. There’s no two ways about it. I think it’s great. To be able to paint someone is one thing, to have them tell me some cool-ass junk is another. I love it. Enough gushing though. It sounds kinda dumb, I know. This just isn’t an emotional typeface.

As for the painting, well to be honest, I really struggled with this one. Some interesting things happened though… I think I can see very clearly how far I’ve come with these paintings. The things that have improved, and the things that haven’t improved enough. I’m not at the same place with certain elements as I am with others… How I deal with hair, for example, isn’t as far along as how I deal with, let’s say, skin.

I should also apologize for this one taking so long. Sorry, Kumary! I appreciate your patience, though. It was also a nice coincidence that Jessica came home and entered the conversation when she did so I could focus up and finish the painting as best (and as fast) as I could.